White Shadows
by x-jam-x
Summary: "And no matter what happened, Sora knew that everything was going to be alright. As long as he had Riku with him, nothing could go wrong. Well…no, something would probably go wrong, but Riku would be there watching his back, and Sora would be doing the same. They would get through this, somehow, together."
1. Prologue: We'll Be the Darkness

A/N: Hello! My name's Jam, it's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for stopping by! This is technically my first fanfic, as it's my first time attempting to manipulate characters that are not my own (Sora & co.). I hope you all enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts is not mine. Kingdom Hearts is the child of Disney and Square Enix, and any Disney/Square/KH characters found within this story are, unfortunately, not mine. And I'm not making any money off of this, so please don't sue the poor college student...

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**White Shadows**

by Jam

"At least the waves sound the same…"

The silver-haired youth sounded almost content, and there was a wan smile gracing his lips when Sora glanced down at him. It was strange to see his friend so…subdued. Riku was always so passionate and determined. When they were kids, that had just meant that Riku had always had to run a little faster, swim a little longer, fight a little harder. He was the one who had had all the bright dreams and fantasies and the drive to see them through. He had always been the leader, and Sora had always been content to follow. As Riku had grown older, his thirst to prove himself and the ambition of his dreams had grown as well, until Destiny Island just hadn't been large enough to contain him.

But if Sora thought about it, subdued was definitely the wrong word. Riku was still just as passionate, just as determined. If he hadn't been, then Riku would have been lost the moment Ansem had possessed him in Hollow Bastion and been trapped in the darkness. But he had fought, and he had survived the darkness – embraced it, even, and he had come out alright. Riku was the strongest person that Sora had ever known. It was just that his dreams had changed, and he had stopped craving to prove himself. It was more like…acceptance. Like Riku had finally come to terms with himself.

And maybe he had finally realized that he didn't have to do everything on his own. He didn't have to be the very best, or be perfect, because that's what friends were for. Friends were there to pick you up when you were down, to help you find the way home when you were lost, and to knock some sense into you when you went astray. Sora had been more than a little surprised when Riku had asked him for help getting to the water, but he was more than happy to oblige. It had been so long since he had seen Riku alive and _well_, not possessed by a Heartless or trapped on the other side of a door that Sora had had to close himself. And Sora had cursed himself countless times for not just grabbing Riku and yanking him onto his side of Kingdom Hearts. But now Riku was finally _here_ and he was _okay_, and if Sora was maybe holding onto his friend a little too tightly or, when they finally made it to the water, he sat a little too closely, at least Riku didn't say anything.

Sora was almost afraid that it was all some bizarre dream. That he had never woken up from that strange pod in Twilight Town and everything that had happened had been a lie. That Riku wasn't really here sitting beside him on this black-sanded beach and was still trapped in the darkness. Or maybe Sora was still back on Destiny Island, snoozing in the pristine white sand and dreaming fanciful dreams that would never come to pass. Dreams of worlds with hearts and ducks that could talk and keys that were weapons. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that he was back home on the play island with Riku. It wasn't balmy here like it was back home; in fact, Sora wasn't sure if he could feel a temperature at all. It was neither hot nor cold, but neither was it anywhere in the middle. It simply…_was_. But the waves did sound the same as they rocked gently against the sandy shore, and there was a comforting breeze whispering through the strange air.

They weren't trapped in the darkness, but were sitting on the Paopu Island after a particularly grueling spar. And that's why they were so tired – the duel had been brutal. They must have gotten into an argument about something or another, maybe about who was the strongest, or the quickest, or the smartest, or maybe Sora had just felt like that day was _the day_ – the day he would finally beat Riku at _something_. They had had the argument the day before, and had agreed to have the spar the next day at sunset just to make it needlessly dramatic. Tidus and Wakka had been there watching from the bridge while Selphie, disgruntled from being yanked from her romantic musings but excited nonetheless, watched from further back. Kairi had been there, too, keeping score like she always did.

Riku had been wearing that smug little smirk he always got whenever he and Sora were about to compete, the one that seemed to say, 'We both know how this is going to end, but I'll humor you anyway.' Sora had long ago made it one of his goals in life to wipe that smirk off of his silver-haired friend's face, and now he was finally going to do it! He hadn't wasted any time after Kairi had signaled the start of the spar; he had simply lunged forward and started attacking with his wooden sword. Riku had blocked each attack effortlessly, but the younger boy hadn't let that discourage him. He had jumped back and skidded through the sand to attack his opponent from another angle, and had grinned from ear to ear when Riku nearly hadn't blocked in time.

The fight had gone on for what felt like ages. The sky had looked as if it were on fire as the sun began to sink below the horizon, and the ocean had been a sea of molten lava. Despite the fact that Sora had felt overheated and had been struggling not to succumb to fatigue, Riku had looked as cool and collected as ever. He had simply stood there and waited for him to attack with that stupid smirk on his face. 'Don't tell me you're giving up already,' he had taunted, and that had been the final straw for Sora.

A blur of red and yellow had surged forward, the wood of his sword had whistled through the air, and Sora had hit Riku harder than he'd intended to. That was why, after Sora was done jumping up and down and cheering and whooping and hollering over his victory, he had had to help Riku get to the Paopu tree. He had helped his friend sit leant up against the trunk of the tree, and then the younger boy had sat down next to him in the sand instead of climbing up onto the tree like he usually did. And now the two were simply sitting there, enjoying the cool breeze and the sound of the ocean beating against the steep slope of the island and the sand of the beach behind them. And if everyone else in the fantasy had mysteriously vanished, and it ended up being just the two of them, well…

"What I said back there…about thinking I was better at stuff than you," Sora snapped out of his daydream as Riku began to speak and hmm'ed to let his friend know he was listening. Even here, in the Realm of Darkness, Sora couldn't seem to keep his head out of the clouds. "To tell the truth, Sora…I was jealous of you…"

Riku, jealous of _Sora_? "What for?" the chestnut-haired youth asked curiously.

"I wished I could live life the way you do," Riku answered, not looking up from the stygian water. The words sounded thick in his mouth, like they were difficult to get out. "Just following my heart."

But Riku already lived that way. It was his heart that had guided him through the darkness. He had been following his heart when he had been secretly helping Sora, Donald, and Goofy and giving them all of those clues. And really, he had always just been following his heart. He had wished with all his heart that he could leave Destiny Island and explore other worlds, and he had followed his heart that day when the Heartless came. Maybe his methods hadn't been that great back then, and he had lost his way for a bit…but it had all worked out…eventually…sort of…if you ignored the fact that they were now trapped in the Realm of Darkness. If anything, Sora had always been a little jealous of Riku.

"Yeah, well, I've got my share of problems, too," Sora replied somewhat bashfully as he turned his gaze back to the strange, pale moon that hovered just above the horizon.

"Like what?"

"Like…wanting to be like you," the younger boy smiled softly at the admission.

"Hm…Well, there is one advantage to being me," and now Rikus voice took on that smug tone that Sora was more familiar with – the one he got right before they ended up sparring or racing, and the one he would use after he won that always got Sora to pout. "Something you could never imitate."

"Really? What's that?" He couldn't help but be curious.

"Having you for a friend." Riku still wouldn't look at him, but that was okay. Heart to hearts weren't really his thing. They weren't even really Sora's thing either, to be honest, though he felt like he had had a fair number of them over the past year. He and Riku had never really needed words; there hadn't been anything they couldn't communicate with a look or a smack with a wooden sword. But hearing the words was certainly nice. Extremely nice, and Sora couldn't help a warm smile from spreading across his face as he leant back onto the sand.

"Then I guess I'm okay the way I am," he said, and his smile leaked into his voice. "I've got something you could never imitate, too."

They faded back into silence, but Sora couldn't keep the smile off of his face. In fact, it seemed to grow as time went on, until his face actually started to hurt, but he didn't care. If he had to be trapped in the darkness with anyone, he was glad he was with Riku. He had been wary when Riku had said that they'd be the darkness and, if he was honest with himself, a little afraid. He had been fighting the darkness for so long, had always thought that it was something evil that needed to be gotten rid of…but King Mickey was right. Light and dark were connected; you couldn't have one without the other. And if darkness was half of everything, did it really make sense to be so terrified of it? Riku was the perfect example that darkness wasn't all bad, as long as you didn't forsake the light. And if the Realm of Light was safe, then…well…they'd be the Darkness.

And no matter what happened, Sora knew that everything was going to be alright. As long as he had Riku with him, nothing could go wrong. Well…no, something would _probably_ go wrong, but Riku would be there watching his back, and Sora would be doing the same. They would get through this, somehow, together.

-x-

Kairi stumbled as the Corridor of Darkness dragged her from The World That Never Was and threw her onto the sand, and would have fallen if Goofy hadn't been there to catch her. She should have been happy to be home again, to see the white sands of Destiny Island and hear the seagulls calling out above the waves, but something was terribly wrong.

"Watch yer step there, Kairi," Goofy chuckled good-naturedly, not noticing at first her distraught expression as she turned back to look at the Corridor.

Thankfully, the others were more observant. "Wait!" Donald yelled, or shrieked, or something – it was hard to tell. "The portal's closing! Where's Sora?"

"And Riku!" King Mickey added, coming up to stand beside his Royal Magician and Captain of the Royal Knights. "Weren't they right behind us?"

"The door started to close as soon as I entered it!" Kairi explained as the last wisps of darkness faded into the cerulean sky. And she had a feeling that she couldn't just ask Naminé to open another portal for her. The two of them had merged back together again completely, and, if Riku hadn't been able to open a Corridor of Darkness, Kairi certainly wasn't going to be able to. She turned to the mouse, the _King_, and didn't like the somber expression that had settled on his face. His was made for smiling. "There's got to be a way to get back to them, right? We can't just leave them there!"

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do," King Mickey said, staring hard at the place where the Corridor had stood. "That portal was our only way out of there, and without a ship we can't get back. Riku and Sora are going to have to find another way."

"Gawrsh…I hope they're okay," Goofy muttered, scratching at the back of his head. "It don't feel right, leavin' 'em behind an' all."

"There's gotta be something we can do, right, Your Majesty?" Donald asked, holding out his feathered appendages imploringly. Goofy was right; after all they'd been through together, they couldn't just _leave_ Sora behind and hope for the best.

"Ah, I wouldn't worry too much about those two," Mickey smiled, his expression softening. Riku and Sora sure were lucky to have friends like these. Friends who were willing to go to hell and back (or The World That Never Was and back) to see them home safely. "They can both take care of themselves, and they'll both be fine as long as they stick together! I'm sure they'll find a way back home."

"Yeah! That's right!" Goofy grinned and threw a lanky arm around both Kairi's and Donald's shoulders. It was a bit hard to do, with the disgruntled duck being so much shorter than him, and he almost ended up strangling him. "We just gotta have faith in 'em, that's all!"

"Let go of me, ya big palooka!" Donald squawked irately, flailing and squirming until the oversized dog had to let him go.

Kairi couldn't help but giggle at their antics, despite the situation. She hadn't known Donald or Goofy long, and she had only just met their King, but she would be sad to see them go. But even with their optimistic words, she couldn't help but worry about her friends. It had sounded like the castle had been starting to collapse when they had left, and she could only hope that Riku and Sora had managed to get out of the castle in time. And if they were trapped there, there was still the swarm of Heartless to worry about. She doubted that Pete and Maleficent had been able to take care of all of them by themselves. She knew in her heart that Sora and Riku would be fine, but she wouldn't be able to put her fears to rest until she saw them both safe and sound in front of her. Until then, she would just have to have faith in them both and wait for them to come home.

But as minutes moved to hours, and hours to days, and days to weeks, Kairi's resolve slowly began to crumble. Where were Sora and Riku, and what had happened to them? What was keeping them from coming home? It was like a year ago all over again, when she had had to watch Sora fade into the distance as she had slowly been carried off back to Destiny Island, except this time was worse because she still had all of her memories intact, and she was trapped on the island knowing that there was nothing that she could do to help them. All she could do was wait, and hope, and be thankful that at least they weren't alone.

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! I'm not sure if I want to leave this as a one-shot or continue it as a story. :) It was just bugging me so much that I'd never seen this plotline before! Your opinions would be greatly appreciated! -Jam


	2. Chapter I: I'll Follow You Into the Dark

A/N: Wow! Hehe, I wasn't actually expecting reviews! Thanks so much! Well, since you guys asked, I'm going to try to continue!

So, I've only played KHI, KHII, and 1/4 of BBS, so I'm probably going to disregard anything that happened in 3D, 358/2 Days...and any of those other games on consoles that I don't own and am too poor to buy. ._. I researched CoM, but please let me know if I'm dead wrong about something!

DISCLAIMER: Is in the prologue!

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**White Shadows**

by Jam

For some reason, the Realm of Darkness was much more peaceful than Sora had figured it'd be. He had always imagined it would be something like the End of the World had been – surreally beautiful but with deadly Heartless lurking around every corner. He'd gotten the surreally beautiful part down. Unlike the End of the World, which had been littered with bright, white snow and soft-colored stone, the land here was, understandably, quite dark. The only light other than the pale moon was the soft, silver luminescence leaking from the cracks that ran through the stones here. The rock formations, however, were the same: steep, malformed structures that defied the law of gravity; trenches so deep that you could fall into them and probably never reach the bottom; and wide canyons that seemed to have silver rivers winding through them.

But he also found the place strangely…comforting. Maybe it was the sea that reminded him so much of Destiny Island, or the way the dark-hued stones shot with their streaks of silver reminded him of the secret place by the waterfall. Maybe it was just the fact that Sora finally knew that all of his friends were safe. Though, he found it strange that they hadn't been attacked by the Heartless yet. Two keybearers trapped in the Realm of Darkness and with hearts ripe for the picking, and he hadn't seen so much as a shadowy antennae twitch. Not that Sora _wanted_ to be attacked or anything, especially not with Riku in the condition he was, but it was still odd.

Riku's 'condition' was another thing to worry about. He had managed to convince Riku to let him look at his wounds, and what he saw didn't look good. His back, which had taken the brunt of the attack when Xemnas had slammed into him with his Ethereal Blades, was a disturbing collage of blacks and purples and everything in between. And Sora was no doctor, but he had a bad feeling that Riku may have fractured his leg when he had gone flying through the air afterwards. His injuries prevented him from standing straight, let alone walking very far on his own, and Sora couldn't do a single thing to help him. After the fight with Xemnas and all those Dusks afterward (not to mention all the fighting they had done before _that_, just to _get_ to Xemnas), he was completely drained of mana and couldn't even cast the most basic Cure spell. And he had already used all of his potions and elixirs… It looked like his silver-haired friend was going to have to heal the old-fashioned way, and they'd have to hope that they didn't run into any trouble until he did. They would have to leave the dusky beach eventually and find somewhere safe for Riku to recover – if such a place existed in the Realm of Darkness.

"Just give me a minute, and then I can walk," Riku murmured, almost as if he had read Sora's mind.

"You're injured! You shouldn't stress yourself," Sora said quickly as he moved to sit on his knees and held up his hands as if he could actually stop Riku from doing something once he had put his mind to it. "I'm sure here is just as safe as anywhere else, considering where we are. At least there don't seem to be any Heartless around."

"Don't you think that's a little strange?" the older boy finally turned to look at him, though it was hard to see his turquoise eyes through all of that ridiculously long hair of his. Sora had nothing against long hair – really, he didn't! He just felt that there was a hair-length threshold around shoulder-length that certain people shouldn't cross, and Riku was one of those people. "You saw all of the Heartless that were here when we closed the Door to Darkness," he went on. "So where are they all, now?"

This time it was Sora who wouldn't quite look his friend in the eyes, and he diverted his cerulean gaze to the black sand beneath him. Every time he thought of that day, he felt as if he had been dunked into a vat of ice water. Things could've, should've, would've turned out so differently if he had just taken Riku's hand and tugged him to the right side of the Door – the gap had been wide enough. Instead he had just _left _him there with a swarm of Heartless and no way of knowing if he would ever be able to escape, and Sora would never forgive himself for that. That was why he had broken down when he had finally had Riku in front of him, been able to touch him and know that he was alive and (relatively) well. He had just been so relieved and happy, and he had never been one to hide his emotions.

"Riku…" the chocolate-haired boy started softly as he finally looked up at Riku with sad, curious eyes. "What happened to you after the Door was sealed?"

He was glad he was looking at him because, otherwise, Sora would have missed the way Riku tensed and his beautiful eyes seemed to shutter just a bit. The older boy looked away again and focused his gaze on the pale ethereal moon that was slowly sinking closer and closer to the horizon as time went on. "Mickey and I fought the Heartless, but there were too many of them, and the Heartless here are more powerful than anywhere else. Even with Mickey, it wasn't long before we were overwhelmed. We both fell deeper into darkness, and I thought it was over…But when I finally woke up, I was in another world."

So Riku _hadn't_ been trapped in the darkness for as long as he'd feared! He'd actually been free this whole time! That was wonderful! But if Riku hadn't been trapped in the darkness, what had he been up to all of this time…? The younger boy placed his hands on his knees and leaned forward, eager to hear what had happened to his friend in this new world he had awakened in, but he was met with silence.

"So…then what happened…?"

"Well…" Riku began slowly, hesitantly, as if he was considering what words he wanted to use. "Eventually I met DiZ – Ansem the Wise, I guess – and I found out that you were frozen in sleep…You always were a lazy one," he was looking down at Sora again, smiling softly, but the smile faded as he continued. "I worked with him to wake you up, but I wasn't strong enough, so I used the darkness…"

Riku had used the darkness to save _Sora_? In the World That Never Was, he had made it sound like he'd harnessed the powers to help stop Xemnas, but apparently that hadn't been the case…or at least it wasn't the whole story. Riku had assumed the form of Xehanort's Heartless because of _Sora_. The younger boy swallowed thickly, not entirely sure how he felt about that. He ached to ask him more questions, like why he had been asleep in the first place and what had happened during that time, but something about the look in Riku's eyes stopped him. Riku was obviously holding some things back, but Sora wasn't going to pry.

Instead, he smiled brightly and said, "Nah, you doubt yourself too much. You're the strongest person I know, Riku!" as he pushed himself up from in inky sand and held out a hand to help Riku to his feet. When all Riku continued to do was stare up at him with a sort of awed disbelief, Sora took his hand back and place both on his hips. "What?"

Riku shook his head with a soft chuckle as he reached up and grasped Sora's hand. And it wasn't anything like the surprised burst of laughter Sora had weaseled out of him in the World That Never Was, but an actual willing sound of happiness. Progress! "Nothing," the silver-haired youth muttered with an almost invisible smile. He rose to his feet with some difficulty and threw an arm around his friend's narrow shoulders for support. Sora wrapped an arm around Riku's waist in turn and, because he felt like it, with his free hand he locked fingers with the pale hand clutching his shoulder. "We need to find some sort of shelter before it gets too dark …" Which seemed like an odd statement in the Realm of _Darkness_, but true. As the ethereal moon drew closer and closer to the horizon, it was getting harder and harder to see, and soon they'd only have the strange silver streaks in the stygian stones to see by.

They began shuffling forward slowly, one foot in front of the other in front of the other in front of the other, swaying sometimes if one boy or the other lost their footing. But they made progress, gradually, and stepped farther away from the sandy shore and into the craggy, silver-black landscape of the Realm of Darkness. But with their backs turned to the sea, and their footsteps taking them farther and farther away from the beach, neither of them noticed the green-glass bottle bobbing its way to the shore. It came to a rest by the soft indent in the sand where Riku had sat and glinted forlornly in the fading light, its message undelivered.

-x-

Finding "shelter" in the Realm of Darkness was easier said than done. It wasn't that the strange labyrinthine terrain didn't offer plenty of hiding places; it was just that none of them felt safe. Both boys were on their toes, equally disturbed by the seeming lack of Heartless, and every dark corner, every nook and cranny, seemed to them to just be one other place where the Heartless could be lurking. So they kept on going, though neither of them knew where to. They rested often because of Riku's injuries and, sometimes, they broke up the stagnant silence with words.

Sora, of course, did most of the talking. He told Riku about all of the worlds he'd been to and all of the strange people he'd met, and gesticulated wildly when he wasn't supporting the other boy. He worried that maybe Riku would get sick of him going on and on about his own adventures, but that wasn't the case at all. Rather, the silver-haired boy seemed almost enraptured. He listened attentively, his eyes bright and curious, and he asked questions often. They were mostly questions about the battles Sora had fought, asking that he go into more detail, but it was just relieving to see his friend so animated. And it wasn't as if they didn't have plenty of time, for, as they continued on, they began to notice something strange.

Riku noticed it first. He figured that, with the amount of injuries he had sustained, the amount of walking they had done, and all the fighting they had done in the World That Never Was, he should be exhausted by now. But the silver-haired boy didn't feel tired at all. He was in agony, yes, and he was getting sore from walking for however long, but he wasn't _tired_. And Sora's voice had gotten hoarse and scratchy long ago, though the boy didn't let that stop him. The younger boy didn't notice anything was off until much later when he realized that he wasn't hungry even though he hadn't eaten since…since…forever ago – and that he wasn't thirsty, either, come to think of it. But what exactly did all that mean? Was this realm timeless, or did the same laws as the Realm of Light just not apply here? And what would that mean for Sora and Riku…?

But maybe this was a good thing rather than something to worry about. What was there for them to eat in the Realm of Darkness, anyway, when everything here ate hearts? And if they never got tired, they could always keep an eye out for Heartless. Nothing would be able to sneak up on them…hopefully.

Eventually, though, Sora got tired of wandering around aimlessly and tripping over every other rock in the perpetual darkness (or rather, he had noticed the way that Riku was starting to grit his teeth in pain and decided they needed a decent break whether the stubborn keybearer wanted one or not, and he knew that Riku wouldn't agree if he put it that way), so they stopped for the "night" by a silver-streaked boulder – just as good a place as any. There were no stars here in this realm and no sounds now that they were so far from the inky sea, and everything was so still that Sora thought he could hear and feel his own heart beating.

"What are we going to do, Riku?" the boy whispered, though it might as well have been a yell the way it broke the absolute silence. Without their voices or footsteps to break the quiet, the land around them was as silent as death. Sora turned to look at his friend, who had propped himself up against a rather large stone and was resting with his eyes closed.

When his turquoise eyes slipped open, the pale light reflecting off of them seemed to almost make them glow. "Well, we could always try to find a way out of here," he offered, but he didn't sound at all hopeful.

The cerulean-eyed boy folded his skinny arms over his narrow chest and stared up at the velvety sky with a thoughtful frown on his young face. "It's just, I've been thinking-…"

"No kidding? I wasn't sure you had it in you."

"I'm _serious_!" the younger boy exclaimed passionately over his friend's warm chuckle. "The Realm of Light is full of all sorts of different worlds and people, right? So I figure that the Realm of Darkness has to have _something_ in it because the two realms are sort of connected, and if there's something in the Realm of Light, there can't be _nothing_ in the Realm of Darkness…"

"It has the Heartless," Riku said, and he gestured vaguely to the land around them. "I doubt the Heartless are concerned with what their Realm looks like."

"I dunno…" the chocolate-haired youth just couldn't shake the feeling that there had to be _more_ here, _somewhere_. If there was light and dark in every person's heart, and the Realm of Darkness was made up of the darkness of every single person's heart, then maybe there were worlds here just like there were in the Realm of Light. Maybe there were even people! Sora and Riku were here, weren't they? And maybe it was all just farfetched, but after everything Sora had been through, he figured anything was possible. He certainly hoped there was something here, anyway. He couldn't really tell how much time had passed since they'd arrived here, whether it had been mere hours or even days, but all there seemed to be as far as the eye could see (which was difficult, because the pale moon had never made a reappearance) were rocks.

And despite how long they had been wandering around and the distance they had covered, they hadn't come across a single Heartless. It didn't make any sense. And the longer time went on, the more anxious Sora became. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong and trouble was lurking right around the corner. He was too used to bad things happening right when he needed it the least, and with good reason. Something always happened.

The Heartless finally decided to come just when he was starting to relax. His body may not have been tired, but his mind was, and he had shut his eyes and started daydreaming again when Riku broke the silence.

"Sora, help me up." The younger boy didn't have to ask to know something was wrong; he could tell just from the tone of his best friend's voice. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Riku's gaze was focused somewhere over his left shoulder and he instinctively knew that there was danger there. As soon as he stood up, the Heartless attacked. It leapt at him with barely a sound, hoping to surprise him, but Sora was ready for it. When he spun around to face his attacker, the Oathkeeper was already in hand and the ring of claws against its resilient metal pierced the air.

The Heartless, a Neoshadow, recoiled and assessed him with soulless yellow eyes, but it was not wary of the Keyblade. It didn't feel the need when more of its brethren were creeping out of the shadows to join it. Dozens of pairs of amber eyes stared at them from the darkness as the Heartless moved to surround the two boys. Sora tightened his grip on the Oathkeeper and moved to stand by Riku, and he helped him to his feet as quickly as he could while keeping his eyes trained on the Heartless. Two keybearers were better than one even if Riku could barely move without grimacing in pain. Besides, Sora would have never heard the end of it if he had left him down there and tried to defend him like some sort of damsel in distress. The silver-haired youth summoned his own Keyblade, Way to the Dawn, in his right hand and leaned against the stone next to him with the other, and the Heartless turned their gazes onto him as if they could sense his weakness.

"Well, you were wondering where all the Heartless were," Sora grinned over his shoulder at Riku, who smirked with amusement despite being surrounded, wounded and on his last legs, by a small army of Neoshadows.

"Good timing, too. I was just starting to get bored," he said, some of that old cockiness leaking into his voice.

Sora didn't have time to respond, because the Heartless chose that time to attack. They all leapt at once as if they had been given some sort of cue. Both boys lunged forward to meet them, and the clanging of metal against shadow incarnate filled the air. It almost seemed as if Riku wasn't hurt at all the way he was flying between the stygian bodies, his weapon whistling through them, but the younger keybearer could see the way he grimaced with every motion. But despite how well both boys were fighting, there was just no end to the swarm of Heartless. For every Neoshadow they defeated, three more sprung up to take its place and, the harder they fought, the more Heartless there seemed to be. Sora was soon reminded of the army of Heartless he had fought outside of Radiant Garden, and the thrill of it brought a grin to his face. On and on they fought, watching each others' backs, their Keyblades singing through the air. It almost became something of a competition between them, though neither could tell who was winning.

But they couldn't keep fighting forever. While it seemed that they wouldn't need to sleep in this realm, their muscles could still tire, and Riku has his injuries to contend with. As time went on and the endless flood of Neoshadows only seemed to grow, the older boy's reactions began to slow. Like sharks scenting blood in the water, the Heartless suddenly surged, dodging around Sora completely to lunge at the weakened keybearer.

"_Riku_!" One minute his silver-haired friend had been there fighting beside him, and the next he was buried beneath a writhing mass of black bodies all clamouring for his heart. Sora flew around to help him, but there was a wall of heartless demons between him and where Riku had fallen. Their yellow eyes seemed to be twinkling at him with amusement. His own cerulean eyes narrowed dangerously as he readjusted his grip on the Oathkeeper. There was no way he was going to let things end like this, not after everything they had been through. With a ragged cry and Keyblade held aloft, Sora dove back into the swarm of Heartless.

But there were just so _many_; he knew that he wouldn't be able to last very much longer like this and, no matter how hard he fought, he couldn't seem to get any closer to Riku. He wondered if this was what it had been like for Riku when Sora had shut the Door to Darkness on him. Had he felt this same fear, this growing desperation? What had been running through his mind when he had finally realized it was over…?

It _wasn't_ over, though. Not while Sora could still swing a Blade. And when the Heartless broke through his defenses and their claws finally reached him, their bodies so numerous and tightly packed that he could barely even move, black talons ripping into tender flesh, Sora still refused to give up. Riku was still alive, still fighting, even though Sora couldn't see him. He could _feel_ him, and that was enough for him. He didn't know what destiny had in store for them. Maybe they would fall further into darkness and become Heartless themselves. Maybe, after the Heartless were done tearing them to pieces, they would miraculously wake up in another world. Sora didn't know, but he _did _know that, this time, he wasn't leaving Riku behind. When he couldn't walk anymore, he crawled, gritting his teeth against the feeling of dozens, hundreds, thousands of claws ripping into his back. And when he couldn't even crawl anymore, when all he could do was lie there on his belly and hope that Riku was still somehow alive, he reached a hand out into the darkness in front of him…and managed a pained but content smile when pale, clammy fingers interlaced with his own.

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A/N: And, yes...the chapter title is a Death Cab for Cutie song. I just couldn't help myself... -Jam


	3. Chapter II: Fallen Angel in the Darkness

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! They make my day! I'm sorry this chapter was a little late. I had it all written down and then...I _lost_ it! ;_; I was most distraught. And I have no idea what happened on Destiny Island between KHI and KHII...so I made it up. But I hope you enjoy the next chapter!

DISCLAIMER: Is in the prologue!

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**White Shadows**

by Jam

There she was again standing there on the shore staring off to sea like a maiden waiting for her lover's ship to come home. It made Selphie's heart hurt to look at her. Kairi's beautiful indigo eyes, usually bright with life and energy, were clouded with worry. She stood as still as a statue, rain or shine, with her hands clasped behind her back and her auburn blowing about her face in the gentle sea breeze. Every day for the past two weeks she would come out here after school, and even during the day she couldn't seem to keep her thoughts on the here and now. Selphie understood what Kairi was going through, at least a little bit. She had missed Riku and worried about him just as much, and, now that she could actually _remember _Sora (and she still couldn't wrap her head around how she had forgotten someone like him in the first place) she was worried about him as well. But standing there on the beach like a mourning widow wasn't going to help anything. An intervention was necessary.

Selphie leapt down from the little dock on the play island and trotted through the sand to stand beside her long time friend. The two of them stood together in companionable silence for a while watching the gulls soar over the cerulean sea. It was strange being on the play island with just the two of them. It was quiet enough these days without Riku and Sora running around trying to outdo each other, but not even Tidus and Wakka were here today. But at the same time, it was kind of nice; it wasn't often that Selphie and Kairi just hung out together as girls…not that this was hanging out exactly, since Kairi came here to be alone, but still.

"So how's Sora?" she asked conversationally, and she couldn't help but giggle when Kairi gaped at her in surprise. "What? Isn't that what you were up to when you were missing?"

The entire town had been in an uproar when Kairi had disappeared off of the face of the Earth, especially the mayor. Everyone had been beside themselves with worry, but Selphie had remained strangely calm. And it was around that time that Selphie, and everyone else on Destiny Island, had remembered Sora.

Everyone had remembered Riku. He had disappeared a little over a year ago during a terrible storm and had never been found. All the islanders assumed that he had drowned when went to check on the raft that night. A body had never been found, but his parents had long since mourned him, and even Tidus and Wakka didn't really hold any hope that Riku was still alive. Selphie had been the only one on the island to believe Kairi when she had told them that Riku was still out there, somewhere, and they had actually bonded over that shared belief. But nobody had remembered Sora. He had just slipped from everyone's minds like a wisp of cloud floating away in a breeze until all that remained was a young, confused girl who watched the play island with sad indigo eyes agonizing over what she couldn't remember she had forgotten. Life went on without him, and it disturbed Selphie to see how easily people could be forgotten.

But remembering Sora had been like turning on a bright light in a dark room without any warning. Everyone had been temporarily blinded and had to figure out what was going on, and then they had had to somehow cope with the fact that they had completely forgotten a member of their community for an entire year. Sora's mom, Hitode, had been completely heartbroken. She couldn't comprehend how she had been able to forget her own son, the child she had given birth to and raised on her own for fourteen years, and she wasn't dealing well with that. And then there was the question of what had happened to Sora. The islanders' memories of the Great Storm were fuzzy at best, but they could remember now that Sora had disappeared at the time as Riku. And when Hitode had realized that her son had probably suffered the same fate as Riku…well, she just wasn't doing too well. Then Kairi had to go and disappear, and Destiny Island had started ripping its hair out.

Selphie had had a different view on things. If she believed that Riku was still alive, then it wasn't at all a stretch to believe that Sora was alive, too. And maybe they were together, wherever they were.

"Something like that…" Kairi finally offered with a soft smile. "He's grown up a lot, but he hasn't changed. He's still his same old goofy self."

Selphie placed her hands on her hips and pouted up at the older girl as she leaned toward her. "And why didn't you bring me with you? I might not have remembered him at the time, but I sure would have liked to meet him!"

"Well, I wasn't really expecting to leave; it was kind of sudden," Kairi explained as she ran a hand through her hair nervously. Selphie clasped her hands behind her back and tilted her head to get a better look at her friend. She knew the older girl definitely wasn't telling her everything, but that was just fine. There were just a few things she wanted to know…

"I'm glad he's okay," she closed her eyes and smiled contently, glad to know her heart had been right. "But how come he didn't come back with you?"

It was obvious that even though Kairi said Sora was okay and seemed to believe it, she was still worrying about her friend. Otherwise, she wouldn't be coming to the beach every day to stare so forlornly off to sea. It seemed that Selphie had hit a sore point, however, because now Kairi was biting her lip and staring off into the distance with that heartbroken maiden look on her face again. The younger girl couldn't help the pout that crossed her face; she hadn't meant to upset her friend further, but she had been curious.

"I'm sorry! You don't have to tell me anything! It's enough to know he's alright," she said, but Kairi seemed to bounce back and her smile returned hopeful if slightly melancholy.

"No, it's fine," she said with an almost helpless shrug, though she seemed to perk up as she continued. "He's gotten himself into trouble again, and it might be a while before he comes home. And I know that he's going to be okay, but I can't help but worry about them."

"Them?" That changed everything! Selphie didn't really have to ask to know who else besides Sora was included in 'them.' Wherever they were, Riku and Sora must be together, and the young girl's inner romantic latched onto that. She may have been the youngest kid in their group, but that didn't mean she was blind and couldn't see what was right in front of her. She had seen a lot from her vigil on the docks of the play island. She had seen the way Sora had followed Riku around like some sort of light-filled anti-shadow, the way he had hung onto his every word and thrived in his presence, the way he was always trying to prove himself to the older boy. It had been more than a simple friendship or a rivalry, and only Selphie had seemed to be able to see it. And, well, if Sora and Riku were alone together off on some epic adventure that had been orchestrated by some twist of fate…the thought brought a smile to her face that was downright mischievous, and she had to tone it down because Kairi looked slightly disturbed. "So Riku's okay, too! Ah, this is great! Wait 'til I tell Tidus and Wakka! I'm so tired of them telling me that I have my head stuck in the clouds. I _told_ them he was fine!"

She was rewarded for her exuberance with a bubbly chuckle from Kairi, and Selphie couldn't help the almost kittenish grin that spread across her face. It was the first time she had heard her friend laugh in far too long.

"They'll manage to get back home okay, don't worry. This is Riku and Sora we're talking about!" Selphie continued trying to cheer the older girl up further. "Even if it takes another year. This time we all remember Sora, and at least you and me believe both of them are out there somewhere. And Tidus and Wakka will, too, once I whip some sense into them! All we have to do is believe in them!"

"You're right, Selphie… You know, you always know just what to say," the auburn-haired girl said with a smile that lit up her whole face. Mission accomplished.

Selphie beamed and clasped her hands behind her back again as she began to rock back and forth on her heels. Now they could move on to more important things… "That's because I'm the only one on this island with sense! Now I _have_ to tell you about the new boy who just moved to the island! He's just so charming! And his _voice_! His name is Irvine and he…"

-x-

Riku hadn't been expecting to wake up. He knew that Sora wanted him to be more optimistic, but he couldn't see how they were getting out of this. The last time he had been trapped in the Realm of Darkness, it had been Sora's heart that had pulled him out, which was how he had ended up in Castle Oblivion in the first place. But this time Sora was already here with him, and that knowledge filled him with both warmth and dread. While he cherished any time he could spend with his best friend after all they had been through, he wouldn't wish this fate on anyone, least of all Sora. Frankly, Riku believed he deserved this. He could never make up for all of the stupid mistakes he had made that had led him here today – opening the door to Destiny Island and letting the Heartless loose on his friends and family, betraying Sora, letting Xehanort's Heartless use him to hurt his friends. If heartlessness was how it ended for him, then he was just surprised it had taken this long.

But it wasn't meant to be like this. Sora shouldn't be here. If Riku was trapped in the Realm of Darkness getting his heart ripped out by a thousand Heartless, that was one thing, but Sora shouldn't have to be there with him. Sora should be back on Destiny Island with Kairi, safe and sound. Someone like Sora didn't belong in a place like this. He had a heart that shined so brightly that honestly it sometimes hurt to look at him – to look into those warm, cerulean eyes and know that he was forgiven, that he had never been blamed in the first place. If that light was ever snuffed out…Riku wouldn't need any help from the Heartless to fall into darkness.

So he had fought as hard as he could, battled through the pain, but it just hadn't been enough. He had fallen, and it was like he was being thrown back into the past. Here he was again in the Realm of Darkness being torn to shreds by thousands of claws, except this time there was no escaping. And this time, Sora was here with him, suffering the same fate. Sora was skilled, but even he wouldn't be able to take on this many Heartless on his own for long. Riku's last thoughts as he had finally slipped into the darkness had been of his friend, hoping that he would somehow be alright. In his last moments of lucidity, he could have sworn that a warm hand had reached for him out of the darkness, and he had latched onto it with the last scraps of his energy before everything had faded into black.

But when Riku had opened his eyes again sometime later, they weren't the soulless amber eyes of a Heartless. He was fairly certain they were the same old turquoise they always were, because he still felt like himself. With hands that were still pale and claw-free, he pushed himself up so that he was sitting and felt himself over briefly as if sight alone wasn't enough to confirm that he was alive and whole. He was alive! There wasn't a single scratch on him, and the pain that had been dogging him since that battle with Xemnas was mysteriously absent as well. The silver-haired youth couldn't help the relived chuckle that bubbled its way out of him. He was alive…and Sora…Sora! He didn't have to look far to spot his porcupine-headed friend, who was lying face down in the black dust not far from him. Riku scrambled to cross the distance between them, heart leaping into his throat at the sight of his friend looking so lifeless.

"Sora? Sora!" Riku carefully rolled the younger boy onto his back and tried not to wince at how easily he just flopped over like a ragdoll...or a corpse. "Come on Sora, you need to wake up…"

There was a frantic instant when Riku thought his friend might not wake up, and slightly blue-green eyes darted over a face that showed no signs of life with a growing sense of dread. He grabbed the smaller boy by the shoulders, prepared to shake him if he had to, but Sora chose that moment to finally wake. His face scrunched up irritably, like it sometimes did when Riku or Kairi woke him up early from one of his naps, before breaking into a jaw-popping yawn. Then two great, blue eyes blinked up at Riku sleepily before clouding with confusion. "Riku?"

The relieved smile that spread across his face probably seemed out of character for him if Sora's expression of bafflement was anything to go by, but Riku didn't really care. He had thought he had lost him for a second there. "Sora…"

"Um…" A flush was beginning to color Sora's cheeks, but Riku couldn't fathom why. Maybe the younger boy hadn't come out as unscathed as Riku. And why _wasn't_ Riku hurt…? "Riku, why are you on top of me…?"

Oh. "Sorry," he muttered and ran a hand through his silver hair. He quickly scooted back to give the other boy room to sit up.

"It's fine," Sora said quickly, but he kept his eyes averted and the flush was still there, and Riku's own eyes narrowed with suspicion. He was obviously missing something here, but what? He was about to ask, but those cerulean eyes suddenly focused somewhere over Riku's shoulder and widened in shock before narrowing in anger.

"Sephiroth!"

The older boy whirled around, half-fearing that there was another Heartless lying in wait for them, but he was not prepared for what he saw. There was a man not too far away from them who Riku couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before. He was sitting so casually on a silver-streaked stone with his legs crossed and his hands place on his knees that he looked as if he might be entertaining guests in his living room. But what was unsettling about the stranger was how similar he appeared to Riku. Sora had told him about Sephiroth. He had mentioned him when he talked about Cloud and had said that he was the embodiment of Cloud's darkness. Riku had been more interested in hearing about his swordsmanship, but he'd found the whole story interesting. How could Sephiroth be the embodiment of someone's darkness and not be a Heartless?

But Sora had never mentioned that Sephiroth could have been Riku's long lost older brother. They shared the same pale, milky complexion, the same shade of silver hair though the Sephiroth's was far longer, and even the same not-quite-blue, not-quite-green eyes. Those eyes were watching him now with mild curiosity and amusement. There were obvious differences between them – Sephiroth was older and had not only a wing coming out of his back, but two sprouting out of his _hips_ – but the similarities were still startling.

The sound of a Keyblade being summoned snapped him out of his thoughts. Sora had leapt to his feet and summoned the Oathkeeper and was eyeing the winged man with distrust. Riku rose to his feet as well but didn't summon his weapon – if Sephiroth had wanted to attack them, he figured he would have done it while they were unconscious or distracted, and there was nothing about his current disposition that signaled he was here for a fight. Even so, he was ready to summon Way to the Dawn the instant the situation changed.

"What are you doing here?" the incensed keybearer demanded. "Where's Cloud?"

"Is that any way to greet the man who saved your life?" asked the winged man with a voice that was strangely deep and sensual.

So that's how they had survived – this man had stumbled across them and saved them…or he had been following them. Sora relaxed his stance but didn't dismiss his Keyblade, managing to look both suspicious and incredulous at the same time. "So you saved us? Not that I'm not grateful," and his stance relaxed even further as confusion replaced the last of the anger, until he was merely holding the Oathkeeper at his side, "but…why would you help us?" Sora was so trusting. Mention you might actually have a heart after all and he was ready to forgive anything. Riku wasn't sure if he thought it was more foolish or endearing.

"I was curious. It isn't often that you find children with such indecently bright hearts wandering through the darkness," Sephiroth answered. Though neither of the boys liked being referred to as children, they didn't say anything. "It was your hearts that attracted the first Heartless. The hundreds that followed were drawn by the Keyblades."

The winged man looked pointedly at the Oathkeeper, and Sora hastily dismissed it with a sheepish look. It made sense. The Heartless were compelled to steal the heart of the wielder of the Keyblade, the only one who could really destroy them by releasing their captured hearts. But there hadn't really been anything else Riku and Sora could have done when they'd had no magic to protect themselves with.

"Thanks for helping us," Riku said as he stepped forward, and he instantly regretted it. He wasn't even close to the man, but he could practically feel the darkness rolling off of him in thick waves. And yet he didn't feel like any of the many villains that Riku had come into contact with. People like Maleficent had an aura of darkness that oozed malevolence and was always strangely tense, as if it was just waiting to snap free and lash out. Xehanort's Heartless had personified darkness itself, and, though he hadn't been in Xemnas's presence long, the Nobody was certainly darker than the 'nothingness' he claimed to be.

Sephiroth, though, was different. Darkness clung to him like a second skin, draped around him like yet another pair of wings. The man had nothing to fear from the darkness, could most likely bend it to his will with barely a thought, and yet he was not a Heartless. Compared to him and his seeming mastery of the darkness, Riku felt like a child trying to play with adult toys. He felt like he was being weighed when those eerily familiar eyes fell on him again, and he couldn't help but wonder how he measured.

"Don't expect help to be so forthcoming again. This realm is a lonely place, and not everyone will be as 'curious' about you as I was," Sephiroth said as he stood to tower over both of the youths.

"'Everyone?'" Sora's face lit up like Christmas had come early. "So there _are_ other people here?"

"There are some…" the swordsman offered cryptically as he turned and began to summon a Corridor of Darkness, clearly dismissing them. "Do try not to get into trouble. I'm not in the habit of saving people."

"Wait!" Riku couldn't let this man just _leave_; if he could summon portals then he could be their only way out of this place. He almost didn't think Sephiroth would stop, but he did. "Can you get us out of here?" It didn't hurt to ask, though Riku would just grab Sora and bum rush the portal if the man said no. The look on his face, however, made him take pause. It was only there for the briefest of seconds – if he had blinked at the wrong time or hadn't been so focused on those disturbing blue-green eyes then he would have missed it completely – but it had been there. Just the briefest flash of pain…

"I can no longer tread in the Realm of Light." And then he and the portal were gone.

Riku didn't like how much that simple statement seemed to resonate with his own self. Maybe he and Sephiroth were alike in more ways than just appearance. Even though he was trying to walk the middle road, the silver-haired keybearer often felt like he was fighting a losing battle against the darkness inside of him, and he sometimes wondered if he still even belonged in the Realm of Light…

"Man…He never told us what happened to Cloud…" Sora had folded his arms over his chest and seemed more put out about that than he did that they were still trapped here. Of course his concern for others would outweigh his concern for himself… But when he turned to Riku, he was grinning from ear to ear. "He probably just didn't want to tell us how badly Cloud beat him."

Riku couldn't help but reach out to ruffle Sora's hair like he always did when they were younger. But instead of ducking out of the way or shaking him off like the usually did, Sora simply smiled. "You manage to see the bright side of everything, don't you, Sora." They were so lucky… If Sephiroth hadn't come along when he did, he would have lost Sora. His own fate didn't even cross Riku's mind, but it wasn't because he didn't care. It was just that Sora was more important, and he refused to let anything happen to him. This should have been easy to do now that he was healed, but now he couldn't use his Keyblade without attracting an unending army of Heartless.

"I just know that Cloud would never go down easily…and Sephiroth said he's stuck here, too. Maybe it's because he lost."

Well, Sephiroth may not have been able to get them out of there, but maybe there was another way out of the Realm of Darkness. If there really were other people here, then maybe there was someone out there who could help them.

"So, what was that about there not being anyone else here?" Sora had folded his arms over his chest and was staring up at Riku with a smug look on his face.

"I never said there wasn't," Riku answered truthfully with a smirk of his own. Maybe it was a little sadistic of him, but he loved to see how quickly he could turn Sora's triumphant grins into indignant little pouts. He was pretty sure that fifteen year olds weren't supposed to be that adorable. "Now all we have to do is find them."

Which was definitely easier said than done. Both boys glanced warily around them, taking in the miles and miles of monotonous silver and black. Neither of them could even tell from which direction they had already come, let alone which way they should go now.

"I guess we just start walking…" the silver-haired youth offered with a dubious shrug, and Sora seemed equally as reluctant to just pick a direction and start wandering aimlessly. But what else were they going to do? They couldn't just sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting for someone to show up.

"Alright. Let's go…that way," Sora said, pointing to off into the distance. "I think those might be trees. Anything has gotta be better than staring at all these rocks."

Riku came up next to him and nudged the other boy in the shoulder, and quirked an eyebrow when the younger keybearer looked up at him. "I bet you I could make it to those trees before you."

The other thing that Riku loved was the flame of competition that always flared up in Sora's cerulean eyes whenever he was around. He never thought it would happen, but he missed those old days on Destiny Island where all there had been was soft, white sand, a warm sea breeze, and the simple rivalry between two childhood friends. Despite all that had happened, Riku still wanted to see other worlds, but his own adventures had just made him appreciate home more and he wished he hadn't taken the time he'd spent there for granted. But though he may never see Destiny Island again, he still had Sora, and Sora had been the heart and soul of Destiny Island. As long as he was with Sora, he would always be home.

The thought actually startled him, though he wasn't sure why. Sora was his best friend, and he always would be. They'd known each other for as long as he could remember, and Sora had saved him from himself. He knew that he would do just about anything for Sora; of course he would feel strongly about the other boy. But before he could analyze his thoughts any further, the spirit of competition engulfed his friend and an enthusiastic grin spread across his face.

"You're on!"

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A/N: The title of this chapter comes from a quote from a very...interesting man named Havelock Ellis, who was apparently a psychologist who studied human sexuality and wrote the first English textbook on homosexuality (it was translated from German). I only found this out after I had fallen in love with the quote. but I think that's kind of neat. He was apparently referring to Beethoven, but I thought it fit the chapter! "I always seem to have a vague feeling that he is a Satan among musicians, a fallen angel in the darkness who is perpetually seeking to fight his way back to happiness."

Oh! And please let me know what you think! I have...no idea where I'm going with this. Hehehe. XD


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